The humanitarian landmine clearance project Masam has reached a significant milestone, having cleared 100,000 anti-tank landmines in Yemen since the start of the project in mid-2018.
Since the conflict between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014, liberated strategic areas have been left littered with Houthi anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, along with unexploded remnants of war, which have fuelled civilian exodus.
Since 2018, Masam 32 demining teams, who are closely supported by the Yemeni Executive Mine Action centre (YEMAC), are tasked to clear areas of immediate humanitarian priority: villages, roads, schools, etc… in order to facilitate the safe movement civilians and humanitarian goods and services.
On 21 December 2021, Project Masam’s Managing Director Ousama Algosaibi announced the project’s demining teams had cleared over 100,000 anti-tank mines across the country.
“Reaching this significant milestone is a true achievement and a reflection of the extraordinary teams who work on the ground everyday to make Yemen safe again. Sadly, it is also a testament to the terrifyingly high levels of landmine contamination in Yemen,” Algosaibi said.
Operations Manager, Retief Horn, said: “All of us at Masam would like to congratulate the 32 demining teams, Technical Experts and Specialised Task Teams working for Masam for this accomplishment. We will also soon reach another milestone – 300,000 explosive devices cleared.”
Deminers and Technical Advisers took a moment to celebrate the milestone in Masam’s headquarters in Aden (photos in gallery).
The news came days after the mine clearance project announced it has cleared 296,181 explosive devices, effectively clearing 28,556,121sqm of Yemeni liberated land including 4,256 anti-personnel mines, 6,208 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 185,957 unexploded ordnance (UXO).
